Lost Child Prevention 101
by HecateA
Summary: Every day, Harry becomes more familiar with the logistical hurdles of bringing a shapeshifting kindergartener out in public. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Hogwarts: **Media Studies, Task 2 - Snapchat: Write about a person changing the way they look

**Warnings: **NA

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**Stacked with:** MC4A; Hogwarts; Summer Bingo

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC (x2); Summer Vacation; Times To Come; Old Shoes; Themes and Things A (Change); Tiny Terror; True Colours; Real Family; Claimed; In a Flash; Click Bait It; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Word count: **794

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_**Summer Bingo entry information:**_

**Space Address: **4B

**Prompt: **Orange

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**Lost Child Prevention 101 **

Teddy was humming to himself, happily swinging the hands that Harry and Ginny were holding as they made their way towards the heart of the Hogsmeade Solstice Fair.

The little boy was excitedly looking at all the lights and sounds around him, his hair turning from green to blue to pink as different parts of the festival caught his attention. His usual excitable transformations were actually more intense than usual today; Teddy's nose was changing shapes, his eyebrows were going up and down, his cheekbones were shifting ever so slightly… Sometimes, his eyes would fall over a specific person in the crowd and their features would briefly flit across his face.

Harry had gotten rather good at recognizing Teddy regardless of his looks, thanks to all of his godson's other tells. But he had to admit that today… well, today Teddy was going quite a bit faster than usual.

Harry looked to the crowd again. It was a big one, which wasn't much of a surprise given the occasion, but still somewhat daunting. Hogsmeade's streets were lined with table after table of vendors and Ministry boots, pop-up shops of Diagon Alley staples had appeared overnight, dozens of different sweet and greasy smells rose up from the fair as food vendors wandered… The quantity and diversity of noise was a beast of its own. A few Aurors were roaming festival grounds with "LOST CHILD" banners draped over their shoulders.

He chewed his lip and turned back to Teddy, currently sporting tufty blond curls and hazel eyes startlingly like his father's. Harry had helped prepare those Aurors for their patrols today, and he knew that the first thing any of them would do if a missing child was reported was ask for a physical description for the search effort. Then what would Harry and Ginny do? The Auror would ask them what their missing child looked like only for them to answer "good question" and do their best to come off as good guardians anyways? They'd have to ask to see the array of missing children the Aurors had collected so that they could figure out which one of them was actually their wayward ward. It also wasn't exactly easy for Teddy to verbalize just what exactly his relationship to the two of them were, given the fact that five-year-olds had very narrow understandings of family trees in the first place and Teddy's was especially challenging. Harry shuddered at the thought. Chosen One privileges only went so far: Harry wasn't sure even he could get away with being that sketchy.

The complications of his godson's endless faces were starting to get to Harry.

"Hey Teddy?" Harry asked.

"Yeah?" the little boy looked up with a big smile. One of his eyes was amber while the other shone grey. Harry watched them both settle on a clear, sky blue.

Harry chewed his lip. He didn't want to _scare _Teddy into sticking close to he and Ginny, nor did he want to ask Teddy not to shapeshift. He was too young to control his abilities fully, it wasn't his fault if it happened on its own, and Teddy he went without changing for too long he would get cranky and tired and that would ruin the fair. Harry was _not _going to ruin the fair.

That was when he spotted the balloon vendor near the main entrance and grinned.

"Hey Teddy," Harry said. "How do you feel about orange today? Is it a good colour?"

The little boy's hair turned a vibrant shade of orange, like freshly plucked carrots, and he grinned.

"Uh-huh," he said.

"Great."

Harry dropped a few coins in the vendor's hand and took the most visible, obnoxiously orange balloon from the bunch. He tied the end of the string around Teddy's wrist. There were more freckles up and down the boy's arm than usual.

"I'm going to need you to keep this on," Harry said. "That way, if you get lost, Ginny and I can find you just like that."

He snapped his fingers, which Teddy always thought was super impressive.

Teddy nodded and tried to snap his own fingers back. Ginny bit back a laugh and smiled at Harry, who ruffled his godson's now fuschia hair before standing up again.

"You'll get it one day," Harry promised Teddy. "What do you think we should do first, now that we're finally here? Get some lunch in your belly?"

"Yeah," Teddy smiled. "Popcorn?"

His hair turned a warm, buttery yellow in anticipation.

"Popcorn is a snack, not lunch."

"Popcorn can be anything."

"Nice try," Harry said. "Let's think of something else."

Teddy continued trying to talk Harry into eating popcorn for lunch as they made their way through the crowd, orange balloon bobbing behind them.


End file.
